HOW TENDER IS GOD’S HEART TOWARD YOU

Have you ever blown things out of proportion and gotten angry with God when you were going through a trying time? This happened to Jesus’ disciples when a storm hit them hard. In their fear of drowning, they cried out to Jesus, who was getting some much-needed sleep in the boat, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38).

For accusing Him of not caring, you would think that they received a rebuke from Jesus. But it was the wind which received His rebuke, and a great calm followed (see Mark 4:39). Because of His tenderness toward His own, Jesus did not waste time taking offence. Instead, He wasted no time taking care of the problem that had caused His disciples so much anxiety and fear.

This also happened to two sisters, Martha and Mary, who did not hesitate to let Jesus know how they felt when He finally showed up days after their brother Lazarus had died. Both sisters made the same remark to Him: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21, 32).

Both sisters had seen Jesus’ miracles of mercy and love. Now, in their grief, they focused on how He could have prevented their brother’s death, but did not. They did not know His heart—how tender it was toward them and how His help would never fail them, but would even extend to raising their dead brother (see John 11:41–44).

Beloved, your heavenly Father sees you trying to stay afloat when you are in the midst of a storm. He sees you trying to provide for yourself and your family, and thinking, “If I don’t take care of these things, no one else will!” And He wants you to know how tender His heart is toward you, how He is not offended by all the bad things you have ever said of or to Him. He wants you to know how much He wants to and will help and bless you. So let go and experience afresh the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward you!  (Article & Picture courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

GRACE IS A PERSON

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  John 14:6

Over the last two decades I’ve had the privilege of unveiling the beautiful person of our Lord Jesus Christ and the perfection of His finished work through the preaching of the gospel of glorious grace. As the name of Jesus is lifted up and proclaimed, we are receiving testimony after testimony about how people’s lives have been touched and transformed by the grace of God.

People of all walks of life, all over the world, are finding freedom from their long-term conditions, addictions, and bondages. They share joyfully with us how the Lord supernaturally delivered them from long-term panic attacks, substance abuse, and from decades of depression. Others write in, brimming with thanksgiving, because God has restored their marriages and their relationships with their estranged children, and healed their bodies when doctors had given them no hope.

I wish I could read all of them to you, because you will notice that there is one common thread woven through all these letters. There is one common denominator that tipped these people over from defeat into victory, from breakdowns into breakthroughs: they all had an encounter with Jesus. They all caught a revelation of His grace.

My dear friend, the grace revolution begins with Jesus. It is not a movement, teaching, or subject to be studied. It is all about a person. What you believe about this person makes all the difference. I am sure you have heard about Jesus and are familiar with His name. You may have even attended Sunday school as a child and heard all the Bible stories about Him. The question is, do you know Jesus personally? Is He a historical figure, a prominent Jewish rabbi, or simply the son of a Galilean carpenter? Who is He to you? Is He just another teacher? Or is He your Savior?

Whatever adversity, challenge, or circumstances you may be faced with today, your answer is found in the person of Jesus. Today, there is a grace revolution that is sweeping across the globe, because the person of Jesus is boldly preached, proclaimed, and lifted high.

This is what the grace revolution is all about. It is about your life touched, changed, and transformed from the inside out. It is about living a victorious life. A life that wins. A life that reigns triumphant over defeat, failure, and frustration. When you encounter the person of grace, see His heart of love for you, and when the veil of Christian religion is removed, there is no turning back. You’ll begin to step away from defeat and take a massive leap toward your victory!  (Article & Picture courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

HE IS THE GOD OF YOUR VALLEYS TOO

In 1 Kings 20, we find the Syrians being defeated by the Israelites. Then, some of the Syrian king’s advisers gave the king what they thought was the reason for their defeat. They said that they had fought on the hills and lost because Israel’s God is the God of the hills. So if they were to fight the Israelites on the plains or in the valleys, they would win.

What stupid advice! They thought that the God of Israel only helped His people up in the hills and mountains, and not down in the valleys.

Now, mountains refer to our good times, and valleys, our bad times. Some people have this idea that God is the God of our good times, but He is not there when we are going through bad times. They think that He leaves us helpless in the valleys, especially when the troubles are of our own making.

My friend, I want you to know that our God is the God of the mountains, but He is also the God of the valleys!

God the Son laid aside His crown of glory, His royal majesty and came down for us, stepping into a human body as a baby. He came down to where we were for the sole purpose of dying on the cross for our sins, so that He could bring us up to what God the Father has for us at His right hand. Jesus came down to crown us with glory and honor, to clothe us with robes of righteousness and make us His bride, sharing everything that He has with us. That is the grace of God. He came down to our valley.

So whatever you are going through right now, know that God is right there in your valley with you. He is holding you in His arms and carrying you through the valley. Victory is already yours. Just as the Israelites were also victorious in the valley (see 1 Kings 20:28–29), so will you be because the God of the valleys is right there with you!  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

YOU ARE AN HEIR OF THE WORLD!

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.  Galatians 3:13–14

God’s blessings are part of our inheritance in the new covenant of grace, which Jesus died to give us. God’s Word tells us that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us...that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Isn’t it interesting that the Lord is very specific in mentioning that Christ became a curse for us on the cross, so that we can experience and enjoy the blessing of Abraham? He does not want us to simply experience any kind of blessing. He wants us to experience the blessing of Abraham. I think it behooves us then to find out what “the blessing of Abraham” is and who can receive it.

The Bible tells us that “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). Are you Christ’s? Do you belong to Jesus? Then that makes you an heir according to the promise. Every believer in Christ is an heir. Whenever you hear the word “heir,” it speaks of something good. It speaks of an inheritance that you don’t work for, an inheritance that is yours not because of what you do, but because of whose you are. In this case, as a new covenant believer in Jesus, you belong to Jesus and you have a blood-bought inheritance in Christ as the seed of Abraham. You, beloved, are an heir according to THE promise!

Now, there are many promises in the Bible, but what is THE promise that God made to Abraham? We can’t claim this promise if we don’t know what it is. We need to go to the Word (use the Bible to interpret the Bible) to establish what the promise is. And we find the answer in Romans 4:13—“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”

The promise to Abraham and his seed (you and I) is that he would be “the heir of the world”! In the original Greek text, the word “world” here is kosmos. Its meaning includes, “the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures.” Now, that is what you are an heir to through Jesus’ finished work! In Christ, you are an heir of the world—its goods, its endowments, its riches, its advantages and its pleasures. This is THE promise that God made to Abraham and his seed. Don’t apologize for it. It is your inheritance in Christ!  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

CLOTHED WITH JESUS’ ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Do you know who first clothed man with coats of skin? It was God Almighty Himself, when He found Adam and Eve hiding behind the bushes because they were afraid of Him. They had become fearful and conscious that they had sinned against God. In their sin-consciousness, they realized that they were naked and that the glory of God, which had been their covering, was gone.

So God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve with coats of skin (see Genesis 3:21). An animal had to die and its bloodied skin became their covering. This speaks of the blood of Jesus that covers you when He became your burnt offering. The Lamb of God did not just take away your sins. He also gave you His righteousness.

Beloved, you are covered by Jesus’ blood. You are righteous by His blood. God has clothed you with the robe of righteousness, which was paid for by Jesus’ blood. I am not talking about a physical robe made of cloth. I am talking about the robe of righteousness that was on Jesus when He said to the storm, “Peace, be still!” and there came a perfect calm (see Matthew 8:23–27), when healing flowed from Him to the sick and when He raised Lazarus from the dead (see John 11:38–44).

When you believe that you are righteous because of Jesus’ blood, you will see the effects of wearing His robe of righteousness. You will see miracles happening before your very eyes. You become a blessing magnet, a favor or grace magnet. It is not your own righteousness, but the righteousness of Jesus which you have put on, that is attracting all these blessings of God into your life.

My friend, have the consciousness of being clothed with Jesus’ robe of righteousness. Every day, come to God and say, “Father, I thank You that Jesus is my burnt offering. He covers me from head to toe with His righteousness. What He is to You, I am. As He is now, so am I. I am in Him.” And you will see the manifestations of the blessings of health, wholeness, protection and provision that the robe attracts!  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

COME OUT OF HIDING

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. . . . He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.  Psalm 103:8, 10–12

When I visited the Mount of Beatitudes in Israel some time ago, the Lord opened my eyes to see for the first time how He had met the man with leprosy in Matthew 8:1–4. After preaching to the multitudes, our Lord didn’t go down the mountain toward them. Our Lord had actually walked down the mountain in another direction, very likely in the direction toward Capernaum (see Matt. 8:5).

As I took a path down the mountain toward Capernaum that day, I saw slabs of stone strewn along the foot of the mountain. These stone slabs are just the right size for a man to crawl under and find shelter. Right then and there, I had the revelation of how the man with leprosy could have hidden under one of these slabs for fear of being discovered by the people, and how our Lord Jesus had known the man was hiding there and deliberately gone to seek him before the crowds caught up with Him.

In Jesus’ day, those with leprosy were ostracized and isolated in accordance with the law of Moses. Because they were conscious of how unclean they were and what the law required of them, their natural response was to withdraw and hide.

But hiding didn’t get the man with leprosy in Matthew 8 the healing and restoration he needed. Fortunately, hearing about the goodness of God—how God wanted to be a loving Father to him and take care of all his needs—got him out of hiding and into seeking the Lord for his miracle. It changed his mind from seeing a God Who ostracized and condemned unclean people to seeing a God Who loved them no matter what their condition. This change of mind lit his faith and put courage in his heart to seek and receive the healing he so desperately wanted.

Like the man with leprosy at the start of his story, could you also be hiding from God today? Maybe you’ve been struggling with an addiction or cycle of defeat that you can’t seem to get out of. Maybe you’ve been a victim of sexual abuse and you blame yourself for it. Maybe you’ve had a failed marriage or business, or made a bad decision that has led to loss. And maybe your failure has caused you to avoid God, avoid going to church, and avoid people in general. Beloved, whatever may be causing you to feel “unclean” or disqualified today, God wants you to change your mind about Him and, instead of hiding from Him, to run to Him!  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

BLESSED IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

We are not trying to get peace with God. We already have peace with God, having been justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ. This peace with God brings us the peace of God, which guards our hearts and minds (see Philippians 4:7). Then, the peace of God inside us will also translate into the peace of God outside us—in all our outward circumstances.

Firstly, we will find that what would normally cause us much care and anxiety will no longer be the case. Secondly, not only will everything turn out well, but we will also be blessed in more ways than one. This is what happens when Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is our peace.

A church member, though stricken with cancer, enjoyed the peace of God, knowing that He was her healer. She later received confirmation from two different doctors that she had been completely healed of cancer. In addition to receiving her blessing of complete healing, she also received from her insurance company a critical illness claim of S$50,000!

Another church member, upon hearing news of her retrenchment, committed the matter to God, believing that He would work all things out for her, especially her loss of a regular income. Shortly after, she received her retrenchment package—a substantial five-figure sum. And within days of her retrenchment, she received calls from her contacts in the industry, offering her jobs, two of which were jobs in well-known multinational corporations (MNCs).

At that time, she had not yet started looking for a job, so the calls were unexpected but welcomed. She finally opted to work for one of the MNCs—a dream come true for her—at a salary that was 30 per cent more than her previous one! When she simply prayed, “Abba Father, I trust You to look after me,” and rested in His love and peace, she was abundantly blessed.

Beloved, because Jesus is your peace, you are blessed in more ways than one. Your soul will prosper. Your health will prosper. Your finances will prosper. Your loved ones will be taken care of. Your relationships will flourish. You will enjoy the favor of God. All because you have the Prince of Peace!  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).